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Source Complexity of an Injection Induced Event: The 2016 M w 5.1 Fairview, Oklahoma Earthquake
Author(s) -
LópezComino J. A.,
Cesca S.
Publication year - 2018
Publication title -
geophysical research letters
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 2.007
H-Index - 273
eISSN - 1944-8007
pISSN - 0094-8276
DOI - 10.1029/2018gl077631
Subject(s) - hypocenter , aftershock , seismology , geology , slip (aerodynamics) , nucleation , magnitude (astronomy) , epicenter , centroid , induced seismicity , geometry , physics , mathematics , astronomy , thermodynamics
Complex rupture processes are occasionally resolved for weak earthquakes and can reveal a dominant direction of the rupture propagation and the presence and geometry of main slip patches. Finding and characterizing such properties could be important for understanding the nucleation and growth of induced earthquakes. One of the largest earthquakes linked to wastewater injection, the 2016 M w 5.1 Fairview, Oklahoma earthquake, is analyzed using empirical Green's function techniques to reveal its source complexity. Two subevents are clearly identified and located using a new approach based on relative hypocenter‐centroid location. The first subevent has a magnitude of M w 5.0 and shows the main rupture propagated toward the NE, in the direction of higher pore pressure perturbations due to wastewater injection. The second subevent appears as an early aftershock with lower magnitude, M w 4.7. It is located SW of the mainshock in a region of increased Coulomb stress, where most aftershocks relocated.